


Missing Pieces

by joshiferdallas



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emma turns up in Seattle after the curse breaks, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Hurt/Comfort, Hyperion Heights au, No Plot/Plotless, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swan-Mills Family, this is going to be pure fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 07:20:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11686773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshiferdallas/pseuds/joshiferdallas
Summary: As Regina begins to feel the cabin fever set in after the curse breaks over Hyperion Heights, she begins to question whether there was something, or someone missing from her life - at least until an old friend shows up in the city and changes everything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what this is. It kinda came to me when I saw those photos of Lana and Alison on set the other day. As of right now, I have no plot for it, and that always seems to work out in my favour because I tend to spend longer writing to find a plot, rather than stumping myself when I have to try to follow the plot. Since the OUAT timeline is already a bit wibbly-wobbly, I'm gonna say it's been seven years since the season finale (which means, Henry's been away for five 'real-world' years). I don't know if that's going to make sense, but just go with it!   
> Anyway, this is just a little something that I'm going to be continuing in little short bursts of chapters.  
> I hope you all enjoy it. Please, don't forget to review, I like to know what you guys are thinking, and if there's anything you want to see in the coming chapters, please let me know!

Regina was beginning to feel the cabin fever set in. She hadn't felt the restricting ache of being suck in the same old routine in far too long. Every day of her life seemed to be running the same, boring way for weeks now. During the re-curse, she had been completely oblivious to any of such feelings, but after the curse broke and everything settled into a peaceful lull, her life in Seattle didn't seem all that different to her life in Storybooke.

Except, here she was actually liked.

Seattle had come as a shocker for Regina when she woke up from her cursed identity as Roni Miller, the owner of one of the best bars in all of Seattle, and realised that she had spent the better half of a year making friends. For the first time in her life she had an abundance of friends who liked her for who she was, not because they had to tolerate her because she was family in some weird, twisted way, but because she was funny, and sarcastic, and one of the kindest people around.

And then there was Henry. Her beautiful baby boy was all grown up with a beautiful little girl all of his own. And his _wife_ , Jacinda, who Regina had instantly taken a liking to when she saw the way the young woman looked at her son and her granddaughter. Their little family arrangement made Regina's heart soar, especially knowing that it was everything Henry had ever wanted for his own _happy ending_.

Neither having her family, nor having an abundance of friends in the Hyperion Heights neighbourhood seemed to be the problem causing her cabin fever, however. The problem always seemed to come back to the annoying blonde that had suddenly disappeared out of Regina's life entirely. Well, not _entirely_. They still shared their bi-monthly phone calls, checking up on one another and gushing over Henry and Lucy, but that was all she had seemed to become - a voice on the other end of the phone. And _that_ was the problem with being stuck in the same old routine, day in, day out. She had no one to bicker with or torment to get her through the endless days.

When Regina's alarm rang that Saturday morning, she was already awake and staring at the ceiling of her bedroom in her two-story townhouse. It was much _much_ smaller than her home in Storybrooke, but it was cozy and Regina loved it. Her house wasn't part of her cabin fever issue, either. What seemed to go hand in hand with the difficult loss of the Saviour bickering in her ear every damn day, was Regina's pure boredom of the routine.

Every day she would wake up at eight. Shower, dress, and do whatever it was that she needed to do around the house, before heading to the bar before coming home to sleep and prepare to repeat the day all over again. If she didn't know any better, Regina would have sworn she was cursed to relive the same day over and over again.

Hence the reason why she was more than happy to offer up her services to babysit her granddaughter on her one night off each week.

Friday nights were their nights. Regina would pick Lucy up from school, they would head to the park for a few hours before grabbing dinner and heading home to watch movies together. It almost reminded Regina of the days Henry was willing to spend time with her as a child, but as her granddaughter fell asleep in her lap every week, only halfway through the middle of the movie, she was more than grateful that their relationship wasn't strained in the way it had been with her son when he was his daughter's age.

It was also a relief that Lucy was nowhere near as deep of a sleeper as her father had been in his childhood.

Regina could _always_ count on her granddaughter to be awake long before her and sprawled out on the living room floor watching cartoon after cartoon, or with her nose suck in a book.

This morning, however, was a little different as Regina rolled out of bed and wandered into the bathroom. What she didn't realise, was that her day would become something completely out of the ordinary.

The sun shone brightly through the minuscule window on the far corner of the bathroom wall, giving her only the smallest view of the perfect blue sky that very rarely hung over Seattle. She could probably count the number of days the city had witnessed a clear blue sky over the last year on one hand. And even then she would have fingers remaining.

Just the sight of a glimmer of summer was enough to make Regina smile as she went about her morning routine before joining her granddaughter in the living room, where the dark-haired girl sat atop of her beanbag with her nose deep within a book while _Spongebob Squarepants_ shrieked loudly on the TV screen.

"Good morning, my little sweetpea," Regina said as she pressed a kiss on Lucy's head.

"Good morning, abuela!" The eight year old beamed as she slammed her book shut and jumped to her feet. "What are we doing today?"

"I thought we might have breakfast at the diner by the park and take a walk before we meet your parents for the fair. How does that sound?"

Lucy nodded excitedly as she held her book to her chest. The pure innocence that radiated from the child filled Regina's heart to bursting point as she reached out to smooth the wild hair off her granddaughter's face. She looked so much like Henry, she thought to herself as she held the child's cheeks in the palms of her hands. Her dark eyes and thick, messy hair, and the way her face curved into that signature Charming family chin - everything about the girl was the perfect combination, in Regina's eyes.

It didn't take the two Millses long to ready themselves for the day. Regina had applied the last of her make-up and spruced up her now signature curls, while Lucy dressed herself and sang aloud to her heart's content. 

It was a little after nine in the morning when they arrived at the diner, which Regina thought was incredibly reminiscent of Granny's back in Storybrooke, where they each dug in to their own set of pancakes. And, just like Storybrooke, everyone knew her name, except in this small and secluded neighbourhood of Seattle, everyone was happy to see her. 

Once their breakfast was over, Regina and Lucy walked hand-in-hand through the quiet streets of Hyperion Heights, continuing their idol chit-chat that had started over breakfast. 

"And _that's_ why I think dad is a Hufflepuff." Lucy finished as she swung her and her grandmother's arms as they walked towards the bench they called their own in the middle of the only park in the neighbourhood.

Regina smirked, only imagining how disappointed her son would be to know his daughter thought he would have been housed in his least favourite Hogwarts house. "And where do you supposed I would have been placed?"

"Gryffindor," 

"Really? Even with my history?" 

"Yup." Lucy said with a pop of her lips as she sat on the bench and waited for her grandmother to slide her black leather jacket off of her shoulders to drape over the back of the bench. It was far too warm to be wearing jeans and a leather jacket in this weather. "You were brave to do what you did. Dad said you were always chivalrous, _and_ you sometimes have a temper like Harry's." 

Lucy giggled behind her hand as Regina feigned shock and outrage. "I do not have a temper like Harry Potter's!" 

"Yes you do!" The child only giggled louder as Regina's fingers found her most ticklish spots, making her squirm and squeal on the bench.

They continued to tease one another about their Hogwarts houses and attempted to house half of Hyperion Heights from what they already knew about their neighbours until Lucy let her laughter die down and turned serious. She turned her body entirely to face her grandmother and crossed her legs on the bench, intent on finding out everything she wanted to know.

"Abuela, can I ask you a question?"

"You can ask me anything, my darling." Regina smiled and nudged Lucy's chin with her forefinger.

"Why aren't you and Grandma Em married?"

Regina furrowed her brow at her granddaughter's question, knowing well enough that Lucy had already met Killian on countless occasions, and had been given the briefest outlook on her past in the Enchanted Forest. She should have known the answer to her own question. "I _was_ married a long time ago, but it was an arranged marriage, and you already know that your other grandmother is married to Killian."

"That's not what I meant." Lucy shook her head.

"Then what is it, sweetheart?"

"Why aren't you and Grandma Em married to _each other?"_

Regina Mills, former Evil Queen and renounced Mayor of Storybrooke, for once in her damn life didn't have enough composure to handle a single, innocent question from her granddaughter. Albeit, she hadn't quite expected the girl to question why she and the Saviour had chosen other people over each other, but still, she had expected to retain some of her queen-like composure. Instead her eyes almost popped out of her head at the question. Her jaw had gone slack and her heart raced within its restrictions in her chest.

"I- We... _Lucy_ ," She started before shaking her head and clearing her throat in an attempt to compose herself. "Your grandmother fell in love with Killian, you know that. And when they were falling in love, I was falling in love with a man named Robin, but that was never meant to be... And your Grandma and I - we were friends for a very long time in Storybrooke."

The eight year old tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow in the same way Regina remembered Henry's creasing. Apparently, she had been told, it was the same way hers did too.

"That's what I thought, but Grandma Em said she loved you very much. Did you love her too?"

Regina bit the inside of her mouth like she was hoping it would draw blood and distract them from the conversation long enough for her to figure out an escape. She didn't need her granddaughter filling her mind with what-ifs and those delicious visuals that had swam through her mind endlessly from the moment a mysterious blonde showed up on her porch all those years ago. She didn't need her granddaughter’s miscommunications with her other grandmother translating into something that could have blown their entire friendship out of the water.

She didn't need to be pulled back down in that dark hole of thinking she ever had a chance with Emma Swan.

She swallowed and forced out a smile. “Of course I loved her. She was my son’s other mother - she gave me Henry, and Henry gave me you.” Regina's smile grew into something real as she leaned across the bench to accentuate her point by tapping Lucy’s nose with her finger.

Revelling in the attention, Lucy grinned but shook her head again. “But did you ever love her like daddy loves my mom?”

“Where are these questions coming from, mi princesa?” 

“I don't know,” Lucy shrugged. “It's just… Grandma Em says she misses you a lot and loves you. She looked sad when I talked to her the other day.”

“She is probably sad that she doesn't get to spend every weekend with you, like I do!” Poked Regina as she tickled her granddaughter again, adoring the squeals of laughter she elicited from the girl. “Besides, she probably misses our constant bickering since Storybrooke isn’t exactly the hub of excitement. I'm sure your grandmother doesn't even remember me the way she thinks she does.”

“I remember you exactly as you are,” Came a voice from behind them, startling two generations of Mills ladies into turning quickly to see the blonde in question grinning at them both. “Except the curls and the jeans. They're new editions that I'm definitely not opposed to.”

“Grandma Em!” Lucy shouted as she threw herself off the bench and into her blonde grandmother’s arms, receiving a welcomed hug and a kiss to the top of her head.

Emma squeezed the girl in her arms, who was quick to wrap her legs around her waist. “Oomf, kid, stop growing! You're gonna be picking me up before we know it coz you’ll be bigger than me _and_ your abuela!”

Completely oblivious to the Saviour and their granddaughter, Regina stood from the bench and stared at the blonde as if she had seen a ghost. It almost felt like she _had_ seen a ghost.

" _Emma_..." She finally breathed out as Lucy was placed back on her feet. For a moment, Regina continued to stare at the blonde, who's thick, luscious curls were back and bouncing over her shoulders. It was like nothing had ever changed, not even the skin-tight jeans or the white tank top beneath a grey henley looked like they had been updated in the last ten years. The brown leather jacket, however, that was new. "You're in Seattle... What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story ending with _this_ one," She nudged Lucy and wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder. "Skype calling me at the station last week begging me to come visit and telling me _all_ about the trouble she and Henry have been getting up to."

"Ah. So I suppose she has given you the full details of our son's endless attempts at intervening in my _'love life'_." Regina teasingly scrunched her nose at Lucy, who bit her lip and giggled.

"Yeah, I've heard a little." Emma paused with a sad smile before continuing. "Talking about love lives - that's why I'm here actually."

Regina raised a questioning eyebrow and glanced over at the blonde's left hand on Lucy's shoulder. The same hand that should have been accentuated with a beautifully cut wedding ring and an engagement ring that she had, admittedly, fawned over. And, much to Regina's surprise, neither were present.

Emma caught the look and rummaged through one of the tight pockets in her jeans to pull out a few scrunched dollar bills. She held them out to her granddaughter and grinned. "Hey kid, you see that ice cream parlour just up the street? I hear they sell the _best_ mint choc chip. Why don't you go get yourself one?"

"Really? Thanks, Grandma Em!" Lucy plucked the bills out of Emma's hand as fast as she could and raced down the street, directly towards the ice cream parlour that her father loved.

Both women stood side by side as they watched their granddaughter sprint down along the sidewalk and into the shop. The gentlest smiles graced their lips at the sight, each woman remembering fondly watching Henry race towards Any Give Sundae in Storybrooke shortly after the curse broke. They were fond memories, but neither woman could deny their ever growing desire to make even more memories with the granddaughter they had never once argued over since they found out they were grandparents.

"Oh, so the competition for the best grandmother has begun, I assume?" Regina joked.

"Don't be jealous. We all already know who the cool grandma is."

"Remind me again, which one of us is a _Sheriff_ , and which one owns a bar?"

Emma smirked. "Exactly my point. You're not gonna be the cool one until Lucy's twenty-one and fluttering her eyelashes at you for free drinks."

"At least she won't be cursing my name when her teeth fall out because you've been giving her junk food at eleven in the morning." Regina challenged as she sat back on the bench, careful to make sure she sat on top of her black leather jacket to hide the evidence from the Saviour, who would sure as hell be smug about it.

As if on cue, Emma popped a squat on the empty spot beside her and sighed. Her ringless fingers ran through her blonde curls as she leaned over her legs and planted her forearms just above her knees.

"I don't know if Henry or Jacinda told you, but, uh, Killian and I got a divorce. I left him about three months ago."

"You did what?!" Regina practically screeched with outrage before quickly glancing over her shoulder and whipping her head around to see if anyone had heard her. They hadn't, but she lowered her voice anyway and shook her head. "They never said anything, and neither did you... _Emma_ , I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Emma glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the brunette, who was visibly questioning whether their relationship was still on a level where comforting touches were encouraged. "I called the whole thing off when I realised our marriage was just sucking the life out of me."

"He was supposed to be your _True Love_!" Regina insisted before finally giving in and placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Even marriages with True Love require hard work - you can't just give that up because you don't want to fight for it."

Emma shook her head and scoffed. "He was 'supposed' to be. That's the key word in it. We never broke any curses or had those _True Love's Kiss_ moments. I don't even know if we were True Loves." Emma fumbled with a stray piece of cotton that had attached itself to the leg of her jeans. "When he came here to help you and Henry, I was so relieved to get him away from me for a while. I finally got the chance to be me again - then he ruined it when he came back. We've been fighting for years and I didn't even remember the last time my heart was in it. It wasn't that I didn't fight for it, because I did. I just stopped fighting because there was nothing to fight for."

"So just like that; you're divorced and you're here, of all places."

"Well, my family is here. Where else would I go?" Emma asked as she sat back against the bench and grinned at the brunette.

Regina simply returned the smile. It had been years since she had actually set eyes on the blonde. Telephone calls and the occasional letter with a few photographs could only provide so much of a comfort, especially when there was so much history between them. Emma hadn't changed much. Her blonde hair was as long as Regina remembered, her smile just as bright, and her attitude was just as arrogant as it had been so long ago. The only difference Regina could see were the lines around her eyes. They were thicker than they were before, and the dark shadows beneath her eyes only accentuated them.

"It's good to see you again, Emma." She reached across and squeezed the blonde's thigh, hating how much she desperately clung on to her need to touch the other woman.

In the beginning, she longed for nothing more than the minute personal space they always seemed to share whenever they butted heads, then it turned into the feather light touches, until they were both unconsciously touching one another whenever they thought the other needed it. And now, as she watched the sadness and disappointment flash over the blonde's face, Regina had to fight her desire to wrap the blonde in her arms and utter reassurances in the form of sweet nothings in her ear.

"It's good to see you too," Emma smiled at her, this time allowing the action to actually reach her eyes for the first time in their entire conversation. "Oh, and don't think I didn't see the leather jacket you're sat on."

Regina's eyes widened comically before narrowing them into a perfected glare. "The fashion choices unfortunately came along with the curse."

"I don't know about unfortunate..." Emma teased as she let her eyes freely rake the length of Regina's body, taking in the sleeveless shirt that hung off her shoulders, to the belt at her waist that hugged the _phenomenal_ pair of jeans to her legs, until finally she reached the cut offs and the leopard print boots. She smirked. "And clearly neither do you. You aren't cursed any more."

"Hm. Well, I no longer think the same thing about _quality_ leather jackets and well-made jeans as I had done before."

"Oh, I get it. You've finally come to the dark side and realised how comfy jeans can be."

The brunette rolled her eyes and tried to bite the corner of her mouth to stop the grin that was threatening to ruin her unamused look. "I've realised how comfortable _these_ jeans are. Those godawful things you're wearing right now do nothing more than cut circulation from your limbs."

There was a pregnant pause as Emma thought about how tight her jeans were to Regina's. Sure, she liked them practically sprayed onto her legs, whereas Regina's... _well_ , they looked like they were made for the woman, but Emma still hadn't really seen how good the woman looked in them from being sat down. She did, however, remember how Regina's eyes always seemed to wander over her backside whenever she wore this specific pair. "These make my ass look good though, right?"

Regina opened her mouth for a moment at the blonde's forwardness, but refused to miss a beat as she chuckled. "That they do, Miss Swan. That they do."

For a moment, they sat in silence. Emma had crossed her legs and unconsciously draped her arm over the back of the bench where Regina was leaning, basking in the strong, late-morning sunshine. It was comfortable, whatever it was between them. It was comfortable enough for both women to long for their moment alone in pure peace and quiet to never end, but being mothers and grandmothers, they knew of the inevitability of their granddaughter racing back towards them with ice cream all over her lips and chin.

"Grandma Em!" Lucy shouted as her run came to a stop in front of the two women. She beamed at them and held out her mint green ice cream in front of them. "Grandma Em, this ice cream is the best! Here, try some."

Emma had to pull her head back instinctively to eye the offending ice cream that had been lunged into her face, before she wrapped her hand around Lucy's dainty one and took the smallest lick of ice cream possible. She hummed at the taste. "Oh _wow_. Yeah, that's definitely the best in Seattle."

Lucy nodded enthusiastically before handing it out to Regina too. "Abuela, you gotta try this."

Regina bit her bottom lip as she contemplated actually licking the ice cream that her granddaughter and her other grandmother had already partially devoured. It was the challenging look that Emma offered that eventually made Regina glide her tongue over the frozen dessert. The look never failed to send a jolt of excitement through Regina's body, and the audible gulp that the other woman emitted when she noticed that Regina had tasted the ice cream from the same place she had, only sent even more excitement through the brunette's body.

"Mhmm, I think you're both right. It is delicious." Regina grinned at her granddaughter and licked her lips when she caught the blonde still staring at her out of the corner of her eye. "Should we head back, my sweet? I promised your father we would have you home in time for the fair."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, I don't really know what this is. It's more of a day in the life kind of thing. A little bit of slow burn won't hurt anyone, right? 
> 
> I don't know. I feel like this is some of my worst writing ever, but I haven't really written daily in such a long time, so I'm just gonna use this story for that. It's gonna be like my new development in getting my writing back to where I had it this time last year. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This is literally Emma and Regina chatting. Somehow I wrote 2,800 words of absolutely nothing!

The short walk from the park to Henry's home felt like the most natural thing in the world for the former mayor. Lucy chattered away about everything and anything as she held one of Regina's hands, and one of Emma's, skipping along the sidewalk. There were even a few occasions where Regina dared to glance across the top of Lucy's head at the other woman, only to find Emma watching her every move with the smallest smile on her lips.

Neither woman uttered a word to one another as they walked the four blocks to Henry's own townhouse. They didn't need to. So much had already been said through their topicless bi-monthly phone calls and their previous times together, long before any of them thought about being in Seattle, of all places. There was nothing between them that either woman didn't understand. 

Somewhere deep down, Regina understood why Emma had left Killian, and Emma had understood why it was exactly that Regina gave up her lavish lifestyle as Storybrooke's Mayor to become a bartender in the middle of a Seattle suburb. They were the things that they didn't need to discuss. Or at least, they weren't things they needed to discuss over the top of their granddaughter's head in the middle of broad daylight, anyway.

They didn't say a great deal to one another as they stepped into Henry's home either, and even their son knew why.

"Ma, it's so good to see you!" Henry exclaimed the moment he opened the door and spotted his birth mother. They both grinned at one another before pulling themselves into a tight bear hug.

"It's good to see you too, kid." Emma patted him on the back as she let got to finally get a look at her grown son. It had been an incredibly long year since she had last set eyes on him. "My god, when did you get so _old?"_

"I could ask you the same thing!"

 Regina simply chuckled as she ushered her family inside to continue their little reunion. It was one she couldn't stand to be involved with, especially after the last time, when she had insisted on Henry and his family joining her on a weekend visit back to Storybrooke so his other mother could meet his wife and daughter. Their little reunion hadn't gone down as well as any of them had hoped, but this time, neither Emma or Henry seemed to be holding grudges over their past. 

"So that's it? You're definitely staying in Seattle?" Henry asked with his arm firmly around Jacinda's waist, ultimately bringing Regina sharply back into the conversation. 

"Yep." She accentuated with a pop of her lips. "I handed over the Sheriff's badge to Tink, and Sean has agreed to step in as deputy. It's all theirs to do what they please."

"Storybrooke will cease to exist by the end of the month," Regina revelled in the idea. Handing over the Mayor's position to her sister had probably been a ridiculous idea in the beginning, but from what she had heard, the older woman seemed to be doing a damn good job. Now all she hoped was that the Sheriff's department would continue the high standard she had whipped it into.

"Nah, Tink knows what she's doing. I trained her up myself when mom and dad returned to the Enchanted Forest. And Zelena has already put it out there that she's not gonna take any of their crap." Emma smiled at the brunette. "The Mills women run a tight ship, and you sister is refusing to let the family name down."

"Hm, maybe you waited a little long to divorce the pirate, dear." Regina teased, earning herself a questioning look from the blonde. "You're using pirate metaphors."

Emma bit her bottom lip, and yet her smile somehow continued to beam through it as she retained her gaze with the brunette. If Henry hadn't cleared his throat to remind them both that there were still three other people in the room, Emma would have been certain that she could have stood there, staring into Regina's eyes for an eternity. 

"So, uh, kid," she started after she had forced herself to look away from the now blushing brunette. "I heard there was some fair happening today - shouldn't we get going?"

*#*#*#*

Emma was right. There was " _some fair"_ happening. In fact, it was the biggest fair any of the Seattle neighbourhoods had to offer, which meant people from all over the city decided to turn up and flood the streets of Hyperion Heights in attempts to win stuffed animals and ride some of the carni-style rides that had haphazardly been put together off the back of a trailer. 

She was even right in thinking that there was still no chance in hell that Regina would even entertain the idea of stepping anywhere near the deathtraps. 

"Do you not watch the news, Miss Swan?" She had asked after Emma had suggested the five of them hop on the waltzers. "These things are constantly coming loose. They're injuring and killing people, and I'll have you know that  _no-one_ in this family will be setting foot near them." 

Regina only paled slightly when Emma laughed and pointed towards Henry, Jacinda and Lucy piling into one of the carts with excited smiles on their faces. That was apparently more than she needed to see as she halfheartedly waved at the three of them and wandered away, leaving Emma standing there, questioning whether or not to give in to her inner child and join her son and his family, or chase after the woman she had actually chased across the country. 

Naturally, she chose the latter. 

"You know those things are actually safer than the ones in the theme parks, right?" Emma asked as she fell into step with the older woman. "I mean, they get checked every time they go up and they're repaired all the time to make sure they're in full working order." 

The brunette shook her head. "That doesn't mean I have to approve of them, dear." 

"I know. I just thought it might release the tension you've got squeezed up in those tiny fists of yours."

Regina glanced down at her hands to see that they were, in fact, closed fists so tight that her nails had started digging into the palm of her hand. The crescent shaped indents on her soft flesh were red and angry as she finally let go of her tight grip. Carnival rides should  _not_ have made her so nervous, but with the thought of her son, her granddaughter, and her daughter-in-law spinning around on a temperamental pile of metal made her stomach churn a little too much. 

"Come on, let me get you a drink or something,"

Emma lead the way towards a few of the food and drink stands that lined the sidewalks and ordered the two of them a couple of sodas, of which Regina gratefully took and swigged in an attempt to calm her nerves. The sugar did nothing, but the way the blonde watched her with a coy smile and an amused look in her eye was enough to calm Regina into being able to offer up her own smile. 

"What?" Regina asked as she screwed the cap back on her soda bottle. 

"Nothing," Emma shook her head and chuckled to herself. "It's just so weird seeing you out of Mayor-Mode." 

" _Mayor-Mode_?"

"Yeah, you know - in Storybrooke you always walked around in your pantsuits with a look that could kill, and now you're in jeans and being a mom. Well, and a grandma, but that's just a technicality." Emma paused for a moment, just to catch Regina briefly wave at someone in passing. "Oh, and you're waving at your friends and being nice." 

 "Yes, well no one here still holds my past against me like a knife at my throat." In a sad way, Regina actually laughed at the fate she had forced herself into for over forty years. No one had actually kept her in Storybrooke. She could have left whenever she wanted, and yet she chose to stay. She chose to punish herself by keeping the people that had ultimately ruined a large majority of her life around her, like as if she had subjected herself to her own punishment for killing people in the name of revenge and casting the curse. Still, to this day, however, she didn't regret the curse for a second.

Emma offered her an understanding nod and tilted her head in a direction for the two of them to begin walking through the endless crowds of people. If Henry, Lucy and Regina hadn't given her the lowdown on everything Hyperion Heights before she showed up out of the blue, the blonde would have been utterly confused by the sheer number of people that filled the bustling streets of the lower quarter of the neighbourhood. Emma could have sworn blind otherwise, that there were definitely not this many people from any fairytale land - her own, or any other. 

What did baffle her, however, was the town's ability to actually hold a secret. She had seen no magic, nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that could have been deemed a threat big enough to cast a curse over them all.  _Again_. It almost made her laugh at Storybrooke's complete ineptitude to do anything. The damn town couldn't even convince themselves that their daily lives were nothing out of the ordinary, never mind convince an entire city full of people that constantly found their ways to wander into the unsuspecting neighbourhood. 

"Do you really like it here?" Emma asked after a while of complete silence between them.

"I never thought that I would, but yes. I love it here." 

"Is that because your life here is so different, or because you got a fresh start?" 

There was a pause as Regina tried to pick the label off her bottle as they continued to stroll through the crowds. "Both. Here I get to be...  _me_. I bake apple pies three times a week for the diner - the old lady that runs it reminds me too much of Granny not to. I have regulars at the bar that come to see _me_ instead of the live bands that we organise each weekend, and I don't have to worry that something might go wrong with magic and all fingers are suddenly pointed at me again. Here I get to be a good influence to my granddaughter without the fear that one day I might turn back into the... back into  _her._ " 

"You haven't been _her_ for a long time, you know," Emma offered and reached out to place a gentle hand on Regina's forearm. "She's gone and you don't have to worry about her anymore." 

"Your faith and optimism still astound me,"

"It's true."

For a moment, as Regina looked at the blonde beside her, she saw something she had only ever seen from the younger woman. She saw an element of trust that Regina never believed she would ever see directed towards _her_ , and yet Emma Swan had been giving her the same look ever since her dark curse over Storybrooke broke all those years ago. There was something else that swam deep within pools of mesmerizing green eyes too. A look that Regina only really saw after the defeat of Peter Pan, and still she couldn't work out exactly what it was. 

She smiled at the younger woman; an open and honest smile that she only reserved for the people she held nearest and dearest to her heart. It was returned immediately, unconsciously making Regina's heart skip a beat or two, even if it did happen in a blink and you'll miss it moment. 

"How are your parents enjoying being back in the Enchanted Forest?" Regina asked, changing the subject to break the tension that had somehow built between them in the shortest moment. "I haven't heard from them in a while." 

"You know them. They love it there." Emma shrugged with a noncommittal lift and awkward fall of her shoulders. "Neal is now riding a horse like a pro, and Evelyn has insisted that she doesn't need a sword or a bow because she won't be going in to battle, nor will she ever need to defend herself from _anything_. She's a total diva, according to dad."

Regina scoffed as she tried to navigate her way through a deep crowd. Somehow, Emma's hand found its way to the small of her back as they shuffled through the endless stream of people. The brunette's shoulders slumped dejectedly when the warmth of the hand was moved from her back before she continued, like nothing had happened. "She's a princess, dear. Your mother was the same until a bow was thrust in her hand. And I'm sure you would have been the same had you grown up there."

"Yeah... I can hardly shoot a gun, never mind shoot an arrow. And we both saw how lousy I am at using a sword."

"What was your technique again?" Regina pressed to fingers to her chin and feigned a thinking moment as her eyes filled with mirth. "Swing until you hit something, was it not?"

To that, Emma let out a laugh that sounded like music to Regina's ears. It was on very rare occasion that the Saviour had been carefree enough to actually laugh aloud, and as far as Regina could remember, she had been the only one to truly relish the sound. 

"I wasn't  _that_ bad!" The blonde defended. "At least I managed to slay a damn dragon the first time I picked up a sword." 

"Yes, and it was that  _damn dragon_ that happened to have been a friend of mine." 

"So what was I supposed to do, leave the egg filled with magic in it?!" 

Regina shook her head, biting her bottom lip to swallow her amusement.

For the next few hours, Emma and Regina strolled through the summer fair events, casually bumping into a few of Regina's new friends and regulars at the bar. As Regina chatted and smiled and waved at numerous people, Emma couldn't take her eyes away from the brunette. Not from her smile, or her own dark eyes that seemed to glisten with amusement and serenity. It was almost like she was watching another woman entirely. 

But there Emma knew she was wrong. 

This whole new woman that Emma thought she was seeing, was still the same woman that had stalked through the streets of Storybrooke, glaring at anyone who dared step or even breathe in her direction. Except here in Hyperion Heights, Regina Mills was free to be herself without having the upkeep of the Evil Queen title on her back. She was free to be whoever she damn well pleased, and Emma was surprised she hadn't seen it before. 

Sure, she had seen her genuine smiles aimed towards anyone who helped her, or argued that she was no longer the Evil Queen, but they were simply flashes of a personality Regina liked to keep well hidden - almost like it was her Achilles heel to the people of Storybrooke. It was her weak spot. Or at least, Regina thought it was. 

The woman that Regina prided herself in being in Hyperion Heights, was the same woman Emma swore she could see beneath the bravado of her title as Mayor and her expectations as the Evil Queen. The same old routine that filled the brunette's days had somehow made her harsh personality something of a habit that she couldn't kick. Storybrooke was like a drug, and her stubborn personality was a side-effect that came with it, and it was only now that Emma seemed to notice it. 

 "Have you found anywhere to stay yet?" Regina asked when Emma handed her one of the hot dogs she had ordered for the two of them. She smiled her gratitude and led the blonde over to a free picnic bench beneath the trees. 

"No' ye'." Emma mumbled through a mouth full of food. She covered her lips with the back of her hand as she chewed and swallowed before repeating herself. "Not yet. I was gonna ask Henry if I could crash on his couch until I could find a place to rent or something." 

"Don't even think about it. Stay with me," Regina insisted, surprising both herself and the blonde sat across from her. "I mean, I have a spare bedroom with an en-suite that you're more than welcome to take." 

Emma's eyebrows shot to the edge of her hairline almost comically. She and Regina had practically been at one another's throats when they had to share ground space in Neverland, so Emma could only imagine the carnage that would unfurl is she agreed to stay in the woman's guest bedroom for a while. "Do you really think that's a good idea? Me and you living under the same roof?" 

Regina scoffed. "We've changed a lot over the last few years, dear. I'm certain we will be able to coincide without killing one another." 

"Thank you, Regina."


End file.
